Nuclear cost not yet clear

2012-02-28 14:52

Sapa

Cape Town - The R300bn allocated in the Budget for building
new nuclear power plants is not the final amount for the project, Energy
Minister Dipuo Peters said on Tuesday.

"I think that the amount of money that has been
allocated... for the nuclear build is not a thumb-suck, and we don't
actually think that is the end amount, but we believe that it is the
beginning," she said.

Responding via video-link to questions posed during a
media briefing in Cape Town, she declined to give further information on
the specifications or tenders for the nuclear plants.

I don't want to pre-empt the work of [the government's] nuclear energy co-ordinating committee," Peters said.

The media would be kept informed once this information was available.

The government's integrated resource plan (IRP) aims to
boost electricity base load in South Africa by scaling up the nuclear
output to 9.6 Gigawatts.

According to the Treasury's 2012 Budget Review, tabled
last week by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, the target date for
achieving this is 2029.

According to the Review, the nuclear build project is
"in the final stages of consideration before [a] financial proposal can
be determined".